Finding Hope
by DrainHeart
Summary: While making their way through the Gapra whitewood, Lightning loses Hope. As she tries to find him, will she find her own hope? Protective!LightningxHope Alternate Turn. Rated T just to be safe.


**Hello, this my first fanfic. The characters are a little OOC. Rated T just to be safe. I hope you enjoy this. This will be 2-3 chapters.**

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**First-Person Lightning**

**Chapter 1: Losing Hope**

I open my eyes to the cracks of sunlight slipping through the tree leaves. My eyes adjust to the bright light amidst the dark ambience that covers this part of the forest. We'd taken a quick rest in a nearby tree after an especially draining fight. I gaze down upon a lower branch. There laid Hope, his silver hair hiding his eyes from view. He looks so innocent, sleeping as if he'd never even become l'Cie.

We're halfway through the Gapra Whitewood, making steady progress. He is keeping up fairly well, considering he's still a kid. His confidence has increased over the time we've spent together. His skill in battle has also dramatically improved. While he falls seriously short in strength, his powerful magic has been a valuable asset in our recent battles.

I let out a yawn and get up. _We should probably head-off_. I jump down to the sleeping Hope.

"Wakey, Wakey," I say as I lightly shake Hope. I wear a satisfied smirk as I hear a groan escape from him.

"Five more minutes, Light," he mumbles.

"Fine, you can have five more minutes. Then we're heading off. I want to reach Palumpolum by tomorrow," I say before jumping down to the metal walkways.

As I wait, I quickly observe our surroundings. We're in a thick part of the woods. Not much light reaches this area, so it's pretty barren in terms of flora. Most of the light is radiating from the crystal-like trees, giving the surroundings an eerie blue hue.

The metal walkways look so natural among these trees. Showing no signs of rust at all and is relatively clean. I quickly get back to scoping out our surroundings. I can ponder how they keep the walkways clean later.

A few yards away I spot an Alpha Behemoth, probably searching for some food. I make a mental note to take a different route. On my left I can make see the outlines of slugs. Although I would never admit to it, I thought they were super creepy. However they are very easy to kill so I can't exactly complain.

Thankfully there were no Thexterons around as they were some of the more challenging foes. Excluding the lone Behemoth we were relatively safe. That knowledge gave me a bit of comfort.

_Thump!_ I turn around to see Hope, flat on his back, rubbing the back of his head. I let out a small sigh and extend a hand to him.

"You've got to be more careful Hope," I say as he gratefully takes my hand. I quickly haul him to his feet.

"Sorry Light," he says with a sheepish grin, "I'm just no good with acrobatics." He looks so innocent with that grin on his face.

"Don't worry, It comes with experience, and I have a feeling you'll be getting a lot of that." I give him a sincere smile. As serious as our situation is, we still manage to smile. "Now come on, the sooner we get there, the better!"

"Right!" he says as we take off in a sprint down the walkways. I get the strangest feeling that we're being followed as we make our way through the forest. I take a glance back but it's too dark to make anything out. Focus, our priority right now is getting out of the forest. We can deal with that when the time comes.

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"Light?" he asks as we finish off a relatively small group of Frag Leeches. His Aero spell destroying the last one.

"Yes?"

"I'm getting this strange feeling like something bad is going to happen," he says with a concerned expression plastered on his face.

"Don't worry," I say as I place a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I won't let anything bad happened. If need be I will die for you." At first he had a look of shock on his face, but it quickly changed into a grateful look.

"Thank you, Light. For being here for me even though I'm holding you back," he says, an apologetic look on his face.

"Don't say that, Hope. You're a valuable asset in battle and a great person! Never think otherwise! Now come on, or do you want to stay behind in this depressing place?

"No!" he shouts, clearly not wanting to stay here any longer then he has too. I wear a big smirk on my face as I look at him. We quickly resume our trek through the massive forest.

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We approach a small clearing. A shaft of light illuminates the area. No monsters in sight. I glance over my shoulder, to look at Hope. He looks a little worn out from all the running so I decide it's a good place to take a rest.

As we walk into the light, for the first time in a while I get a good look at our condition. A little dust covers my clothes but I'm relatively fine. Hope clothes are in similar condition; however his left elbow seems to be slightly bruised. Nothing serious, it should be gone in a day or so.

Although I haven't told hope, I still could feel something following us. However as I haven't seen anything I assume it's just my imagination. No point in telling Hope unless I'm sure something is following us.

"Light, why are we stopping," he asks confused.

"We're taking a small break, as you seem to be a little tired. We'll only be here for a few minutes or so," I respond giving him a reassuring look.

"No, let's get going! I can still fight," he states though I can still hear him panting.

"Hope, I know you're tired. It's dangerous so I want you at full strength. Besides we've been running for a while. I don't think a small break will hurt." I say to him. He knows he's lost this one so he simply sits down. I remain standing, constantly alert. We remain this way for a few minutes.

Suddenly, I hear rustling from behind. I swerve around to see three Thexterons jump onto the walkway. Their skin is a dark green and seems to have lost its luster. They appear quite thin and scrawny. I infer they are probably starved for food. They'll be weak but I know better than to underestimate them. The one on the right seems to be shorter than the others, probably a runt.

Hope scrambles to his feet and pulls out his boomerang. Similarly I unsheathe my sword and enter a fighting stance.

"Hope! Get the one on the right, I'll get the other two," I order. He nods his head and casts fire at the small one, knocking it down. It gets back up, and angrily heads straight after Hope. He can take care of that one.

I rush at the other two, momentarily surprising them. I slash the one to my right with a force strong enough to throw him a few feet. In a flash I have my sword in the others mouth, blocking his attack. I swing my sword downward, its body crashing into the walkway, temporarily winding it.

I jump out of the way of the others attack. I switch my sword to gun-mode midair before shooting it in the head. I know it's dead before I touch the ground. That leaves one left.

I hear Hope fighting out of my line of sight, but it sounds like he's winning. I focus in on the remaining one. It lunges at me ferociously, but I quickly sidestep it and bring my sword into a downward slash cutting its neck. It collapses to the ground, dying almost instantly.

I turn around to help out Hope. I see him, his back to the edge of the walkway, facing the small Thexteron. I know what's about to happen but I can do nothing to stop it.

The Thexteron lunges at Hope, who brings his arms up to block the attack. It knocks into him, sending both itself and Hope off the side of the walkway. He quickly glances at me with fear in his eyes before he plummets downward.

"HOPE!"

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**I 'HOPE' you enjoyed this chapter. Please rate and review. Criticism is always welcome. Feel free to tell me what I did wrong or what I can improve.**


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